This is a collection of all the bound volumes of 'The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge' it was a weekly publication that lasted from 1832-1945. At the end of each year the issues were bound together to form a book, one book for each year. Besides these books the 'Society' also published a 27 volume encyclopedia for general readers called the 'Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge', a two volume Supplement was released shortly afterward, then several years latter a Second supplement in 1 volume was also released, a rumored 31st volume was thought to exist. These 30 volumes can be found at http://archive.org/details/ThePennyCyclopaediaOfTheSocietyForTheDiffusionOfUsefulKnowledge

The magazines were edited and published in London by Charles Knight & Company, and by William Clowes and Sons in London, in New York by William Jackson, and in Boston by Munroe & Francis.

Each issue takes a look at various subjects in science and society, with occasional political view points. Most articles have an accompanying illustration. Subjects such as historical figures, cities, and archeological articles are also in many of the issues.

Originally only the digitized versions by Google were available which had sections of text blanked out, as well as many images removed.

***Update: April 25, 2022***

These incomplete/cropped versions have been removed, and replaced with PDF versions by the "Wellcome Library", uploaded to Internet Archive by "Francesca Marchetti". The Google version of 1832 was retitled AmericanEdition, because of its "American Edition Preface", otherwise its contants are the same as the London version. Here is a list of where to find the original Public Domain versions here on on Internet Archive, and Google Books. The few, newer scans by Google Books, have all the original illustrations, and are not cropped as the earlier versions, however "Google Books" themselves convert the original scans to black and white, while the original color scans are hosted at the "Hathi Trust", website. I added the prefix 'z' to the file name of the AmericanEdition of 1832 volume, as the only difference between it and the London Edition is the "American Edition Preface". Several other companies would continue to use the name "Penny Magazine" for various publications, but with no connections to the 'Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge'.

A successor publication was released the following year, titled "Knight's Penny Magazine" also edited by "Charles Knight", but it had no connection with the "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge", it lasted only 31 issues in 1846, and was bound into two volumes 1-16 in Volume I, and 17-31 in volume II. It sparingly used any illustrations. These two volumes can be found here;

Knight's Penny Magazine, Collection

* https://archive.org/details/KnightsPennyMagazineCollection

The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1832.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13663880

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1833.

https://archive.org/details/s1id13415200

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1834.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415210

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 1835 {Google Books}

* https://books.google.com/books?id=rlkFAAAAQAAJ

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1836. {With Analytical index for the years 1832-1836}

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415220

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1837.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415230

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1838.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415240

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1839.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415250

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1840.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415260

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1841.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415270

The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1842.  {Google Books}

* https://books.google.com/books?id=wuI2AQAAMAAJ

The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1843.

* https://archive.org/details/s1id13415280

The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1844.  {Google Books}

* https://books.google.com/books?id=blQAAAAAYAAJ

The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  1845.  {Google Books}

* https://books.google.com/books?id=z3hMAAAAMAAJ